Harry Potter and the Potter Pairs
by DreadCanary
Summary: Harry doesn't have the usual trouble finding a date to the Yule Ball, he has a completely different one.


_I do not own Harry Potter. I just like playing in the Hogwarts sandbox and so long as Miss Rowling lets me I will continue to do so._

A six-year-old Ginny whirled in a dress too big for her. "Someday I'm gonna marry Harry Potter an' he'll…he'll" Ginny tried to think of something romantic that boys would do, "He'll fly me to his big castle where there aren't any brothers on a dragon!"

Luna sat on her bed watching her friend and pouting, "But I wanna marry Harry Potter."

"Well, you can't, he's mine." Ginny answered.

"Nuh-uh, he's Harry Potter, not Harry Weasley. I can marry him if I want to!"

"Not if he marries me!"

Luna thought about this for a minute, "It's like that dress, mommy said we should share."

"You don't share boys." Ginny said knowingly.

"Why not?"

"I don't know, you just don't."

"That's stupid." Luna observed. "If we both want him we should share."

"Well what if I share and you never give him back?" Ginny retorted.

"Witches oath?" Luna offered.

"Witches oath." Ginny agreed.

They grasped hands and promised each other that if ever one of them got Harry Potter they would share. The two of them had no idea that they weren't the first pair of girls to do this, or the last.

**7 YEAR JUMP**

"I. . . I'm sorry, Harry, Cedric's already asked me." Cho said apologetically.

Harry's heart fell, "Er, great, well I'll see you—see you there I guess." Harry tromped down the stairs from the owlery trying to figure out who he would ask next. He'd never thought about Cho saying no, he'd really never thought about Cho saying yes either; he'd been too focused on getting up the nerve to ask.

Harry started thinking about the girls he knew. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia from quidditch—no Angelina and Alicia were sort of with Fred and George, and didn't Katie say something about dating some boy from Hufflepuff? Ginny? He'd have to clear it with Ron. Harry did not think that conversation would go well. There was nothing for it but to ask Hermoine.

He found his best friend exactly where he'd expected, hunched over a book in the library. "Hey, Hermoine can I ask you something?"

Hermoine slid a bookmark into her book and set it aside so she could face him. "Sure."

"You know the Yule Ball?"

Hermoine nodded.

"Well I sort of have to have a date and…" Harry looked down, "and you're really smart so I was wondering…if you knew who I should ask?" The last bit came out in a rush and he looked up to see her glaring at him. "What?"

"You, you, uggggh." Hermoine groaned in frustration, yanking her books off the table as she stood. "I really thought you were better than that, Harry." She snapped as she stormed out of the library.

Ron was just as confused by her reaction as Harry but he thanked his friend for warning him off of doing the same thing—which left Harry wandering the school still trying to figure out what to do. Asking Cho hadn't been so bad now that he thought about it. Maybe he should just ask the next girl in his year that he saw.

Pansy Parkinson.

Okay, he'd ask the next girl in his year that he saw who was also not a shrieking harpy.

He spotted the red-headed Hufflepuff turning towards the main hall and raced to catch up with her. "Hey, Susan."

She turned to look at him curiously, "Hi, Harry."

Harry could feel himself turning red as he asked, "So, um, do you want to go to the ball with me?" It still felt odd, but somehow asking the second time was less nerve wracking than the first time around. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

It was Susan's turn to redden. "Oh, um, I…that is."

"Oh." Harry said.

"It…it's not you it's um…" Susan was bright red now and looking anywhere but at Harry. "Hannah." She whispered.

"Your best friend? Why, oh!" Harry exclaimed, "Sorry, I didn't know that you two were, you know."

If possible Susan turned even redder she was blushing so hard, "No! No no no no no. I sort of promised her that we'd both…" her voice trailed off, mumbling.

"Go together?" Harry had heard of girls doing that when they didn't have dates. He didn't see the appeal but then again he couldn't really dance with Ron.

Susan seemed to find her voice, "share, uh, you. So I'd love to but, we'd have to, I mean you'd have to go with…Hannah, too."

Harry froze, unsure of what to say. Susan took this as her cue and hurried off before Harry snapped out of it. Harry made a mental note to scratch Susan and Hannah off the list and looked around again. He saw a pair of Slytherin girls but then spotted Lavender and decided to skip the snakes. "Hey, Lavender! Wait up!" He called, running up to her.

"Hi, Harry." She answered, quickly followed by a "Hello, Harry." from Parvati that he hadn't noticed.

"W-would you like to go to the ball with me?" It really did get easier every time he said it.

The two girls shared a look and shrugged. "Sure." Lavender answered.

_Yes, _Harry thought to himself.

"I mean, you'd have to take both of us." She continued.

"What?"

"We're a Potter Pair." Lavender explained.

"A Potter Pair?"

"Yeah, see it was a game someone started. I don't know, years ago. Two girls both thought it'd be cool to marry the boy-who-lived and they agreed to share and then told someone else who thought it sounded cool and, well, I found out in first year when Parvati here told me about Padma and Su Li. Su Li apparently got the idea from Morag who'd agreed with Eloise—this was before the acne."

"Uh, just how many girls…" Harry left the question hanging.

"I think all the purebloods, I don't know. Does this mean you don't want to go with us?" Lavender asked.

"I, er, have to think about it." Harry said, "So, uh, yeah." It was forced, it was awkward, but it got him out of that conversation. Harry wondered to himself if he should have paid more attention to Malfoy's pureblood garbage, but how could he have known it would end up useful—the only muggleborn that he knew for certain was—Hermoine! Of course!

He raced to Gryffindor tower in search of his friend. She wasn't in the tower but the Marauder's map was and that led him to the third floor corridor on the right hand side. "Hey, Hermoine."

"What? Did you come back so I could tell you how to snog your date to the ball? Or maybe you want to know if Cho already has a date. Or do you just want me to do your homework for you so you can go play Quidditch!"

Harry didn't notice her voice rising or the fact that she had been crying, "No, I…I wanted to ask you—"

"What! What did you want to ask me!"

"To be my date to the ball."

Hermoine whirled on him, "For your information, I already have a date. Victor Krum." She stormed out, slamming the door behind her leaving a very confused Harry to wonder what went wrong.

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, Lisa Turpin was trying to convince her best friend. "Look, what boy would want to go the ball with one girl when he could go with two."

"He's not going to ask either of us, he's going to ask Granger, and they're gonna get married and have the full fairytale." Mandy retorted.

"Well if you're so sure what's the harm."

"It's never gonna happen."

"You're the one who's always telling me to test it empirically." Lisa smiled.

"Fine, we'll do it your way. I promise you it won't matter." Mandy conceded.

Harry had no idea that another pair had just formed but he was getting desperate. Amy Malston had been offended that he'd asked about her parents and stormed off before he could explain why; and Jacqueline Carmichael turned out to be into girls. A blushing Ginny explained that she had to share with Luna and Harry hadn't bothered to learn the names of anyone else outside his year so that was it for Gryffindor.

He thought his luck was turning when Megan Jones tapped him on the shoulder. "Hi, Harry, I heard you didn't have a date to the ball yet."

"You want to go with me?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I, I just thought you should know that Leanne and I…"

"Damnit." Harry exploded slapping a wall in his anger.

"I…I'm sorry, we thought that since you could have two dates for the ball anyone by themselves wouldn't interest you, I mean who'd want only one date."

"Me. Do you know _anyone _who doesn't come in a set?"

Uh, "Hermoine—" Megan started suggesting, trying to calm him down.

"Going with Krum."

"Jacqueline?"

"Not interested."

"I don't think Padma—"

"Su Li." Harry answered.

"Oh, that was my other suggestion. What about Amy?"

"Tried already, I think my best option is going to be a muggleborn."

"Of course! Sally-Anne."

"Thanks, Megan, you're the best." Harry said rushing off to find a nook where he could study the map in private. Sally-Anne was on the first floor in a what was probably the Hufflepuff common room on the first floor.

It was ten minutes later Harry was standing in front of a floor length tapestry of three otters playing on a riverbank. The map clearly indicated this was the entrance but he couldn't figure out how to get in.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Cedric's friendly voice made him turn.

"I need to talk to Sally-Anne and, uh, Megan said she was in the Hufflepuff common room."

Cedric looked confused, "So why are you in the hallway?"

"I don't know the password." Harry admitted.

"Gryffindor has a password?"

"Hufflepuff doesn't?" Harry asked.

"No, you just ask. May I come in please?" Cedric asked the tapestry which shimmered and turned into a bead curtain hanging over a short tunnel. As soon as Cedric was through the tapestry re-formed blocking Harry's entrance.

"Uh, I'd like to come in too" the tapestry stayed firmly solid, "if you don't mind." That must have been polite enough for the Hufflepuff guardian because Harry was allowed entrance. It wasn't hard to spot Sally-Anne sitting with Leanne and Yvenne. Harry watched he for a moment before going forward. She was pale-skinned with shoulder-length black hair and sea-green eyes.

It didn't take very long before the Hufflepuffs noticed his presence and the conversations stopped as the other students tried to figure out what he was doing here. Harry quickly walked up to the table with the three girls and sat down. He completely ignored the other two girls as he focused on the rail thin muggleborn, "Sally-Anne, would you go to the ball with me?"

The other two girls gasped as Sally-Anne's eyes widened in shock. "You want to go with me? This isn't some kind of joke?"

"Yes, I mean, no it's not a joke."

"YES!" The girl squealed excitedly as her friends tried to figure out how the shy awkward looking girl just landed a date with one of the champions.

Harry just congratulated himself on getting a date. "Well, I'll see you later." He said, smiling as he wandered to get some lunch.

They talked a few times over the next few weeks to coordinate, she wasn't pushy or demanding at all and Harry started to find the girl's presence really soothing. She did make him practice dancing in an unused classroom a few times but she did it in such a gentle way that he wasn't awkward or embarrassed at all.

It was a lot of fun watching the other boys dash around at the last minute, and Ron never did get a date. When the night finally came he was a little jealous of Krum—Hermoine was gorgeous in her dress and she'd worked some kind of magic in her hair—but only a little. Sally-Anne had found a deep green dress that clung from her shoulders down to her waist and then just flowed.

The two of them had dinner and then spent most of the night dancing in a comfortable an easy silence and Harry wondered at how relaxed he could be, somehow Sally-Anne made him feel as if they were alone even with all eyes on him and felt like he was the luckiest boy in the room.

He heard later that Ron had made Hermoine cry again.


End file.
